Portal:United States Merchant Marine/Selected biography/10

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James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American film and Emmy-award winning television actor.

He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades. These included his roles as Bret Maverick, in the popular 1950s western-comedy series, Maverick; Jim Rockford, in the popular 1970s detective drama, The Rockford Files; and the father of Katey Sagal's character on 8 Simple Rules following the death of John Ritter. He has starred in dozens of movies, including The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria (1982), both with Julie Andrews; and Murphy's Romance (1985) with Sally Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination.

Garner joined the United States Merchant Marine at sixteen. He was a good worker and got along with all his shipmates, but he suffered from chronic seasickness and could not shake it no matter how hard he tried. At seventeen, he joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at Hollywood High School, where he was voted the most popular student.